What's your opinion on the secret prisons in the Eastern European nations and Egypt where US detainees are shuffled off to? Why do you think they need to be detained in these nations and not here in the US?
Well, if they exist (and that hasn't been proven that I know of) they would be secret so I wouldn't have much knowledge of them (at least none that I would admit to).
But I venture to guess, hypothetically speaking, that such locations would not be for your average Jihadist insurgent, but for the leaders and facilitators who might have direct knowledge of operations, personnel.
But the greater question of "renditions" begs the question of why shouldn't we return these people to their country of origin? They are just as much of a threat to that government as they are to ours. I'd rather than them there than in Gitmo, especially given the controversy revolving around that operation.
As for torture, we're really speaking hypothetically, since very few of us have any actual knowledge of what goes on in detention centers. But from my experience in speaking with interrogators and analysts, any methodology used in an interrogation has constant oversight by military legal representatives. And while there might be the occasional story of abuse, the restrictions and oversight are tremendous.
I do recall one story told to me by an analyst who worked at Abu G. They were interrogating a prisoner who they WERE SURE had information about a terrorist network. They had him in the "booth" over and over again, using all kinds of approaches, but he never broke.
Later though, an informant told them that the detainee was describing his "ordeal" and ridiculing the interrogation techniques as being soft. He stated that the interrogators would only have had to start smacking him around and beating him and he probably would have talked. In fact, he was expecting, and fearing, being beaten and wasn't sure how he would have held up.. But he was happy those "foolish" Americans were so "weak"..
If the detainee has no reason to fear being beaten, he will be far more confident of resisting the interrogation methods.
Kinda like if you knew your parents were prohibited from beating you, you'd never confess to things you'd done wrong.
Hell, my father and I were just discussing this topic and "reminiscing" about when I was a young kid and he caught me trying to steal money out of his wallet in the middle of the night. He woke up, grabbed his belt, and literally kicked my @ss out of his room and down the hall.. (and I deserved every whack).
But boy o' boy.. god forbid one of our interrogators get caught doing that to a detainee, even if it might mean saving the lives of Americans or Iraqis...
So pardon me if I think we need to have a bit of perspective here. This is war and even if one of our guys "stretch the regulations" and slap them around, it's FAR BETTER treatment than those two mutilated US soldiers received (let alone those kidnapped Russians).
Hawk |
